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Natsumi Komiyama
For Natsumi Komiyama's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Pulsations
Dec 16, 2017
'Book With No Pictures' is leaving kids in stitches
Picture-less book a hit with kids
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 9, 2017
Japanese high school girl quiz and, er, 'florida'
A quiz on words that high school girls in Japan use in conversation or when texting attracted plenty of attention online earlier this week, with the hashtag #JK用語クイズ (JK yōgo quizu, or JK words quiz) topping Twitter's trending list for much of Tuesday. "JK" is short for joshi kosei, the Japanese term for high school girls.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Pulsations
Dec 2, 2017
Harumafuji's stablemaster adds fuel to sumo fire
Stablemaster adds fuel to sumo fire
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Nov 25, 2017
Narita's Unari-kun named mascot of 2017
Unari-kun, the official mascot of Narita City in Chiba Prefecture, defeated 1,157 rivals from localities nationwide to win this year's Yuru-kyara Grand Prix title. Chiryuppi of Chiryu, Aichi Prefecture, and Torai-kun of Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, took second and third spots, respectively.
JAPAN / Media / Pulsations
Nov 18, 2017
The changing face of the shichi-go-san rite of passage
Children nationwide on Wednesday celebrated shichi-go-san, an annual traditional rite of passage for children reaching the ages of 7, 5 and 3.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Nov 11, 2017
When teenage girls text like middle-aged men
On Nov. 8, the #おじさんLINE hashtag topped Japan Trending rankings on Twitter. The hashtag refers to the manner in which ojisan (middle-aged men) text other people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse,Pulsations
Oct 28, 2017
Fork hides noodle-slurping sounds
Instant noodle producer Nissin Food Products has created a "noise-canceling" fork to mask the sound of someone exuberantly slurping down a mouthful of noodles.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores